Maybe you’ve been there too: in a moment where frustration seems to come out of nowhere and has you yelling at your cat while her golden eyes just stare back with a “what the…” kind of look.

Well, I’ve been having those days lately.

The other day, I walked into my bedroom to go to sleep. The pillows were flattened, the sham pillows were on the floor in the corner, the duvet was half off the bed, and the top sheet was almost curled into a knotted ball. It reminded me of the bad night’s sleep I’d had the night before and of how stressful life can be in general.

I knew I wanted to start the next day with a fresh slate.

When my feet hit the floor the next morning, I pulled the duvet and the top sheet off the bed, straightened out the fitted sheet, puffed up the pillows, and placed the embroidered pillow shams against the headboard. I curled the top sheet backward onto the duvet and it immediately looked like one of the displays in a fancy bedding store.

With the curtains open, the sun shone directly into the bedroom creating beautiful patterns on the walls—the room felt so inviting. The embroidery on the sham pillows appeared more vibrant and the colours effortlessly blended together just as nature mixes her multitude of shades each season.

The bed sheets were printed with my mother’s favourite birds that pay homage to her as she rests in heaven. Everything looked so sumptuous that I wanted to dive back into the coziness and hear the crunch of the duvet as I wrapped it around me; and then, as I pulled a pillow to cuddle, I would be engulfed in the feeling of being welcomed, protected, and at home.

Standing in the doorway, I felt my breath skip a little—the way you do when you’re surprised at something and inhale with your mouth open. Love seemed to fill the room as I soaked in the comfort of being surrounded by beauty and gratitude.

Making my bed went beyond being just neat and tidy; it helped me create a different start to my day—one that began with a simple act of self-care.

When you strip your bed in the morning, think about how you can strip away whatever isn’t working in your life so you can re-create it.

Take those pillow shams off the floor and remind yourself that there’s often a part of you that you leave thrown to the side (and “Nobody puts Baby in a corner!”).

Give each pillow a gentle squeeze to puff them back up, and then carefully place them in full view while remembering that when you fall flat, it’s important to give yourself a loving embrace and then return yourself carefully to the world.

When you wrap the top sheet over the duvet, remind yourself that you have patterns of behaviour that need to be exposed so you can smooth them down instead of leaving them crumpled in a messy ball.

Use the strength of your arms to shake the duvet a little before it falls gently back down on the bed and repeat to yourself that this is a symbol of inner strength, that you can shake things up when necessary and then allow them to fall softly back into place.

Each morning, remind yourself that it’s okay if things get messy again, because at the start of your day, when you make your bed, you’re acting from a place of self-care. And that will influence the rest of your day.

So I’m going to make my bed every morning and let it serve as a cue to how I want my day to go; and when someone says to me, “You made your bed, now lay in it,” I will do just that—happily.

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